AROUND THE NATION.

Miami's comeback a hit with voters

September 08, 2003

Miami's near-loss-turned-heart-pounding-comeback Saturday night against Florida, boosted the Hurricanes (2-0) to No. 2 in the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN coaches polls, sending nemesis Ohio State (2-0) down a spot to No. 3 in each poll.

The Hurricanes' 38-33 victory also opened the door a crack for coach Larry Coker to do some scolding, despite quarterback Brock Berlin's valiant late rally in which he completed 18-of-21 passes in the final 21 minutes to help bring the Canes back from a 23-point deficit.

Florida (1-1) fell from No. 20 to 22 in the coaches' poll and rose from No. 21 to 19 in the AP.

"Had the game ended up badly for us, it would have been a lot tougher job for us as coaches this week," said Coker, whose Hurricanes will play host to East Carolina (0-2) Saturday in the Orange Bowl. "The great part is we can be pretty stern and pretty up front and in your face because it's much easier when you win to build on those things."

Coker said he was most pleased with the way the Canes kept pressing without worrying about the score.

"If you start worrying about the scoreboard, you're going to fold," he said. "I mean we're down 23, and we can all look at the scoreboard and go home and eat pizza early. Hopefully, we grew up a lot and realized that we're never out of it."

Tigers roar

LSU rolled up 59 points against outmanned Arizona. If coach Nick Saban had kept his starters in the whole game, they might have scored 100.

The ever-critical LSU coach had to do some stretching to come up with criticism of his team's 59-12 rout Saturday night, the Tigers' most one-sided road victory in 45 years.

LSU scored on its first six possessions--five touchdowns and one field goal.

"What we did today will have absolutely no effect on any game we play in the future," Saban said.

TEAM, SYNOPSIS

UCLA Bruins

Sophomore QB Matt Moore will be sidelined 4-6 weeks after suffering a severe bone bruise in his left leg in the loss to Colorado. Drew Olson will sub.

Georgia Tech Bulldogs

Deep threat WR Fred Gibson will test his pulled hamstring at practice Monday, and coach Mark Richt won't know until then how serious it is.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

At No. 20, the Demons received their highest ranking in the AP poll since 1979 on Sunday after season-opening wins over Boston College and N.C. State.

Memphis Tigers

Tigers (2-0) off to best start since 1976. "They believe they can win the way we told them they can win," said coach Tommy West.

Ohio State Buckeyes

Coach Jim Tressel on eking out a 16-13 win over San Diego State: "It's good when there are some slips [and] you don't fall. Hopefully we'll just learn."